As North Texas grows at one of the fastest rates in the country, regional transportation leaders will gather in Dallas later this month to discuss how the region can keep people and goods moving while preparing for decades of continued growth.

The Oak Cliff Chamber of Commerce will host its 2026 Transportation Summit on Oct. 23 at Methodist Dallas Medical Center's Hitt Auditorium. The event will bring together regional planners, transportation officials, business leaders and community stakeholders to examine the decisions shaping how people and goods move throughout North Texas.

This year's summit, themed as "Moving Forward: Connecting Communities, Commerce & Opportunity," will focus on regional transportation planning, transit and the relationship between infrastructure investment and economic development.

"Transportation infrastructure directly impacts how communities connect to opportunity and how businesses grow," Kiyundra Jones, president of the Oak Cliff Chamber of Commerce, said in a news release. "This summit creates an important space for leaders to discuss the investments, partnerships and policies that will shape North Texas' transportation future."

Regional transportation priorities

Cedar Hill Mayor Stephen Mason, chairman of the Regional Transportation Council, will deliver a keynote presentation on the metropolitan planning organization's vision for the Dallas-Fort Worth region. He told The Dallas Morning News North Texas' biggest transportation challenge is maintaining regional mobility while keeping pace with rapid population and economic growth.

"To support that growth without compromising our quality of life or economic momentum, we must build and maintain a seamless, multi-modal transportation network," Mason said in an email.

That means integrating highways, public transit, freight corridors and active transportation so people and goods can move efficiently across city and county lines.

The council serves as the region's transportation policymaking body, helping guide long-term transportation planning and investment decisions.

Randall Bryant, chairman of the Dallas Area Rapid Transit Board of Directors, will lead a session titled "A New Era in the North Texas Transit Industry." The discussion is among the summit's scheduled presentations examining the region’s transportation future.

The program will also feature a discussion about the upcoming Texas legislative session and the Texas Department of Transportation's Dallas District outlook.

Steven Alvis, a commissioner on the Texas Transportation Commission, and Ceason Clemens, district engineer for TxDOT's Dallas District, are scheduled to participate.

Ruben Landa, president of the Greater Dallas Planning Council, will serve as the summit's honorary chair and moderate the discussion involving Alvis and Clemens.

Mason said he hopes attendees leave the summit with an understanding that regional partnerships and long-term planning are essential to securing state and federal transportation funding. Coordinated investment allows North Texas communities to compete more effectively for grants while improving mobility and economic opportunity across the region, he said.

How to attend

The summit is scheduled for Friday, Oct. 23, from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Methodist Dallas Medical Center's Hitt Auditorium, 221 W. Colorado Blvd. in Dallas.

Additional information and registration are available through the Oak Cliff Chamber of Commerce's website.

This reporting is part of the Future of North Texas, a community-funded journalism initiative supported by the Commit Partnership, Communities Foundation of Texas, The Dallas Foundation, the Dallas Mavericks, the Dallas Regional Chamber, Deedie Rose, Lisa and Charles Siegel, the McCune-Losinger Family Fund, The Meadows Foundation, the Perot Foundation, the United Way of Metropolitan Dallas and the University of Texas at Dallas. The News retains full editorial control of this coverage.

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